I Am The Swarm

Although the foreign race members of the Confederation forces spoke with certainty and grew increasingly confident in their speculations—much like how they had believed in the Swarm’s stellar bomb plan—the Swarm always defied expectations.

Just as the foreign race members were bracing themselves and scrutinizing the Swarm’s megastructure for possible launch points, the upper surface of the megastructure suddenly revealed over a thousand small catapult channels.

The confederation members were dumbfounded, unsure of what the Swarm was up to. Even when the Primordial Bodies began ascending the channels, they still felt like they were in a dream, unable to believe what they were seeing.

After all that grand preparation, the Swarm was still resorting to such a primitive method? And even if they were launching Primordial Bodies, why use the megastructure? There were tens of thousands of Desolation-class motherships, each with its own catapult channel. Quantity alone could have made up for the lack of sophistication.

While they were still lost in thought, the Desolation-class motherships, as they had hoped, began charging up. Electromagnetic catapults crackled with arcs of electricity, adding a flash of light to the void.

They were utterly stunned, still struggling to believe what they were witnessing. What kind of operation was this? What kind of logic? This move was no different from sending troops to their doom.

“I thought they had developed ultra-long-range ray weapons. I was worried earlier, but I never expected the Swarm to pull something like this?”

“Maybe the Swarm’s commander has changed?” one foreign race member speculated uncertainly.

“The Swarm’s commanders don’t have any titles. After so many battles with us, we still don’t know how many commanders they’ve had.”

“Maybe it’s just too amateurish, a brain-dead style?”

“Haha, I like this style—of course, only when it’s on the enemy’s side.”

“It might really be a new commander. Look at the Swarm’s tactics this time. Apart from the ones they’ve used before, which were somewhat standard, the new tactics—like the stellar bomb and this octopus-launching nonsense—are just dumb.”

“Ha, maybe this new commander is just overly obsessed with the close-combat capabilities of those bio-weapons.”

“To be fair, the close-combat abilities of those bio-weapons are indeed strong. In a one-on-one melee, even the Rashudia race’s ships might not be a match.”

“I admit they’re strong, but close combat requires getting close first. In this environment, launching octopus-like units is just asking for trouble, isn’t it?”

“Hence the brain-dead style.”

“Haha, does the Swarm have its own version of spoiled brats?”

“Would a civilization at the Swarm’s level even have spoiled brats?” one of them wondered, as many such societal flaws had been eliminated over the long course of civilization development.

For example, most civilizations had mature training systems, and some even had unified societal management, where individuals didn’t even know who their parents were. Spoiled brats were a relic of more primitive societies.

“Are you overthinking it? How long has the Swarm even existed? They might genuinely have such things.”

The confederation member suddenly realized he had indeed overthought it. The Swarm had developed so rapidly that many were misled by their strength, unconsciously equating them with civilizations of similar levels. After being reminded, he recalled that the Swarm had only existed for a few hundred years—a fraction of the lifespan of most civilizations in the Interstellar Technological Confederation.

Given how short the Swarm’s existence had been, it was possible that many flaws hadn’t been ironed out. But the Swarm was so mysterious that even with such speculation, they couldn’t confirm it.

“Isn’t it said that the Swarm split off from the Ratfolk? Maybe the current commander is just a Ratfolk they grabbed and put in charge.”

“Haha, you’re a genius. The noble education system truly produces excellence.”

“Haha.”

The Confederation forces’ communication channels were filled with a lighthearted atmosphere. This topic of mocking the Swarm helped relieve some of the tension among the Confederation members.

Just then, amidst the crackling electricity, the first Primordial Body was launched from the electromagnetic catapult. But what was once an incredibly fast speed now seemed unremarkable.

Moreover, the Primordial Body’s massive size made it an easy target. It didn’t even require specialized instruments; optical devices alone were enough to spot this “projectile.”

“The Swarm is actually going through with this?” Although everyone had been mocking the Swarm earlier, deep down, none of them believed the Swarm would actually do it. Yet reality had slapped them in the face again. But instead of feeling the sting, they felt a secret glee.

Was the enemy really adopting a brain-dead style? If so, that would be fantastic. The confederation members couldn’t hope for more of these face-slapping moments.

“Aim carefully and fire hard. Let the Swarm’s commander know just how ridiculous his actions are,” one of them shouted, perhaps forgetting to switch channels, as his order echoed through the Confederation command channel.

“Don’t. We’re not the Swarm’s teachers. We shouldn’t be teaching them how to do things.”

“Exactly. I think we should let a few through, give the Swarm some hope, and encourage them to keep up this nonsense.”

“I agree. It’s a good chance to see the much-hyped close-combat abilities of the Swarm.”

“Haha, my race has prepared a secret weapon specifically to deal with the Swarm. This is the perfect time to use it,” said the commander of a mid-ring civilization called the Daibo, looking smug. To the uninformed, it might have seemed like he truly had some devastating weapon up his sleeve.

The Daibo civilization had a long history, almost as long as the Rashudia race. The Rashudia race was considered the strongest mid-ring civilization not just because of their power but also because they had existed the longest among mid-ring civilizations.

Given that the Daibo civilization had a similar lifespan, one would expect them to be at least second or third in strength among mid-ring civilizations. Yet their technological level was only mid-tier.

The reason for this was that the Daibo civilization had stagnated many years ago. They realized that no matter how much they advanced their technology, they could never surpass the Ji race or the inner-ring civilizations.

As long as the Ji race was part of the Interstellar Technological Confederation, even the inner-ring civilizations couldn’t cause much trouble. If an external enemy invaded, the taller figures would handle it. If even the Ji race couldn’t hold the line, then the Daibo civilization certainly couldn’t.

In short, during peacetime, the Ji race ensured the confederation remained stable. If an external invasion occurred, the Ji race would handle it. If they failed, the Daibo civilization’s efforts would be meaningless anyway. It was better to just surrender, as it would merely mean switching allegiance from the Ji race to another power.

With this mindset, the members of the Daibo civilization had long chosen to “lie flat.”